Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is supposedly in talks to launch Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC)’s HBO Go application on Apple TV by mid- 2013, revealed Bloomberg citing anonymous sources familiar with the development.
Subscribers will be able to watch more than 600 hours of films and television shown on Apple TV, after paying for HBO, according to the sources. Apple TV is a set top device, which shows content purchased by the subscribers on iTune, and also through other online services to consumer’s televisions.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will try to increase its sales and gain more traction by adding HBO after including Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Hulu Plus. This step will further help apple compete with its rivals like Roku, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Xbox, which provide customers with similar video-delivery devices.
Apple TV would let Time Warner, which already offers HBO Go for Roku and Xbox, deliver another alternative to consumers who are increasingly snubbing broadcasts in favor of an on-demand viewing and streaming video over the Internet.
At present, those subscribers who avail the service through their cable and satellites services can access the HBO Go, it would be available for the first time as an app on Apple TV, but will require pay-TV authentication. As of now, iPad and iPhone include HBO Go apps.
More than 2 million Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) set top boxes were sold in the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, which ended in December. In the past two fiscal years, Apple sold more than 7.8 million such devices. The device has provoked speculation that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will introduce a full-scale television.
“This is an area of intense interest for us,” Apple’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook, said in response to a question about a television during the company’s first-quarter earnings call earlier this month. “I tend to believe that there’s a lot we can contribute in this space. And so we continue to pull the string and see where it leads us.”
Presently, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) set top box includes various apps for Apple’s own services like iTunes and movie trailers, as well as third –party streaming services like Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Hulu Plus. In such a scenario HBO Go is the obvious fit. The only problem subscriber will go through is, HBO Go will need users to subscribe to HBO through their cable operator in order to access it.
